Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services. How does moving elders from the Mackenzie Delta communities to Inuvik for long-term care fit with the government’s priority to foster healthy and independent communities?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu. Members, Mr. Beaulieu has the floor. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The closure of the Joe Greenland building coincides with the government’s plan to provide long-term care where the care can be provided best, where there were services available with doctors and nurses and so on. However, with the closure of the Joe Greenland building, the department has increased their support for elders in the community as well.
Is the Minister willing to at least review the decision to end long-term care at the Joe Greenland Centre and come up with a plan that meets the needs of elders in the delta communities?
The department is always looking at better ways to provide services to the elders in the communities. An example is coinciding with the closure of the Joe Greenland Centre in Fort McPherson, we’ve upgraded the services that are being provided to the elders in – I’m sorry, not Fort McPherson but, rather, Aklavik. We used to do 139 visits annually and we’ve increased those visits to almost 700 visits to the elders and we added a nurse to work with home care and one licensed practical nurse as well.
At this time I have no further questions.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today, it seems that we have a gap in our procurement policies. Standing offer agreements can be offered to firms who can then turn around and subcontract southern companies to do work here in the Northwest Territories. I’m not sure if it’s the Minister for which the work that I’m referring to is being done or if it’s someone else on the other side that’s responsible for this policy on standing offer agreements. I would like to know why standing offer agreements do not uphold the same standard of northern content that other contracts do.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That certainly is something that I believe the government can take a look at on the standing offer agreements. The situation that the Member speaks about in Hay River has been dealt with by departmental officials sitting down with the individual to get a better understanding of when that equipment was procured by that company. Hopefully going forward that company will be involved in any future procurement that requires that type of equipment in the South Slave.
One of the features of a standing offer agreement is that it’s in place for a period of time. Can the Minister tell us if standing offer agreements are usually in place for one year or for longer? Because I do appreciate that Mr. Dean has made the department now aware of his equipment, and his capacity and his ability to do this kind of work, but how long before an engineering company can be taken – not taken to task, that’s the wrong word – can be held to account for making sure that they subcontract to northern contractors?
I agree with the Member that we have to ensure that the money we are spending, whether it’s through standing offer agreements or other sources of procurement, is done so that it maximizes the benefits to the economy here in the Northwest Territories to local businesses. I want to assure the Member that this is something that this government is going to continue to pursue.
Can the Minister assure me that no more standing offer agreements will be awarded by this government without clearly identifying what the northern content and the requirement for northern content is, and for procuring the services from northern contractors, that no more standing offer agreements will be let until this matter is resolved?
We hear the concerns from the Member for Hay River South very clearly and it’s something that we’ll take under consideration.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
At what point and through what vehicle, by what method do we Members on this side of the House get to be involved in the revision of the procurement policies of this government to ensure that Northerners get the work and get the jobs?
I think as we move forward there will be ample opportunity for Cabinet to work with the Regular Members to do just that and I look forward to the Regular Members’ participation in that policy review that will take place. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I made a speech on my Member’s statement about the fishing industry in Hay River, I’d like the Minister of ITI to maybe let me know if they’ve had any discussions about opening the NWT borders. We have, throughout the country, everybody wanting to open the borders through NAFTA and through European agreements. Are they looking at that availability for fishermen to sell out to the other provinces?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. I think the department is very interested in finding a way to do just that. The FFMC has gone through a corporate review. There’s a meeting in a couple weeks’ time where some of these recommendations will be presented. There are jurisdictions looking to pull out. Back in 2010, the NWT fishermen voted to stay within that organization. I do think that, going forward, we need to find a better way to get things done and work with the fishermen and the industry here in the Northwest Territories to maximize those opportunities. Thank you.
I’m aware of the discussion on Freshwater. My concern is the availability to allow fishermen in the Northwest Territories to go out on their own and market in those areas. Some believe that BC and Alberta may be areas to expand. My question is: Has the department been working on other marketing of the fish along with Freshwater, I guess?
ITI has been working on promotion and support of commercial harvesting, processing, and marketing of fish and meat program that we have here in the Northwest Territories. It’s designed to increase the availability of locally produced healthy food in NWT communities. We’ve done some of that work such as a holding facility and processing facility in Kakisa. We’ve also renovated a building at Wool Bay and are looking at mobile processing facilities in the Sahtu. Any opportunity that we get to enhance the ability for people that are harvesting fish in the Northwest Territories to get it to not just a market outside the Northwest Territories but to markets here in the NWT, we’re interested in pursuing that. Thank you.
That goes right in line with my next question. Is the department working with all the other departments within the government to ensure that these types of fish products from the Northwest Territories are in the jails, in the hospitals, in the schools? Are they working to market in those areas?
The short answer is yes. This is an important aspect and will be an important aspect of a future economic development strategy here in the Northwest Territories that would include an industry like the fishing industry, again, so we can maximize the opportunities and get fish to market both locally and south of our border.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my Member’s statement today, keeping the Minister of Transportation and ITI, ITI in this case, busy today. I’d like to start by seeking the Minister’s statement of principled support for the issue I raised earlier. I know ITI’s SEED program identifies value-added manufacturing as a priority sector for program support, so promoting value-added manufacturing is definitely government policy. In this case, does the Minister see the diamond jewellery industry as value-added opportunity and support the development of training programs in the skills of producing fine jewellery incorporating our world-class diamonds with our northern artistic talent? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Going back to the election campaign in the fall, in my election material I had specifically stated in there support for the northern jewellery manufacturing industry. I think, going forward, we have to try to find a way to create jobs in the small communities. In my mind, jewellery manufacturing is one way to accomplish that. They’ve met with a great deal of success in looking at jewellery manufacturing in northern Russia, in small communities. I think, you know, if we put our minds to it, we can come up with a program that’s going to allow us to move forward with a jewellery manufacturing program. Maybe we could start in one community and try to branch out from there. Some of the best jewellery makers in the world started out as carvers. We’ve got an abundance of those here in the territory and very talented ones. Thank you.
I look to the Aurora College calendar and I see a traditional arts program which offers a three-month hands-on course providing the skills to create and market high quality Aboriginal arts and crafts for local, national and international markets, so again, I see an opportunity here for a similar diamond jewellery program, and apparently the Minister does too. I’m glad to hear it. I appreciate that support.
Will the Minister commit to working with his colleague, the Minister of ECE, perhaps including inquiries of Harry Winston Diamonds on the development of a diamond jewellery skills program right here in the Northwest Territories? Mahsi.
I believe in getting some work done very quickly on that and working with my colleague not just in ECE but my Cabinet colleagues. We’re going to have to try to find money as we go forward. If we’re going to do a pilot project or something to that effect, we’ll have to work with the Members and come up with a plan on how best to start that jewellery manufacturing. I could see it including diamonds and also other metals that are produced here in the Northwest Territories. I look forward to doing that. It’s something I really believe in. Thank you.
Thanks again to the Minister for those remarks. Of course, the reason I’m focusing on diamonds is because we are already unsuccessfully spending millions and millions of dollars on trying to get a value-added industry, so I’m talking about taking some of those unsuccessful dollars and shifting them into a successful program. Again, the Minister mentioned it’s tough to do this. You know, a real partner might be Harry Winston, because, of course, if we were successful they’d be selling a lot more diamonds.
Of course, our greatest resource here is the artists. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that there is a wide invitation and support for the involvement of our artists from all regions in the investigation and development of any programming? Mahsi.
You don’t develop a program and get it off the ground without seeking the input of the stakeholders involved, and that would include, obviously, the artists in the territory. Again, it’s not something that is going to magically appear in all the small communities out there. I think we have to be strategic in how it’s done and try to at least get something started. Again, I do look forward to doing that. I’ve had some initial discussions with the department and we have to find a way forward. I thank the Member for raising those concerns in the House today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks again to the Minister. I know that he’s onto this. Finally, in the consultation aspect of it, obviously we need to produce products that meet the needs of our sales outlets. In developing any training program we need to start modestly, perhaps one or two artists from each region or something, as the Minister said. Will the department include consultations with the retailers and wholesalers so that skills can be developed to produce a range of products that are relevant and well designed for the marketplace? Mahsi.
Yes, I think that’s an important part of this or an aspect to this. We need to talk to industry, as well, in preparation for a program, a pilot project, whatever it may end up being, but certainly, they’ll play a part in that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are going to be a follow-up on a moratorium that was brought forth to us earlier or actually towards the end of our last session. It is for the Minister of Housing in regards to the short-term moratorium on evictions due to public housing arrears. I just want to get an update from the Minister on how many tenants were in arrears or actually getting caught up on their rental payments. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There was recently a meeting held in Yellowknife with all the LHO managers across the Northwest Territories. One of the items discussed was the moratorium. At the time, it was noted that of the 20 people that were facing eviction, none of them have actually come forward and entered into a repayment plan. It is not going as well as we would have liked. We have two months left. We are hoping there is not a rush at the end and hoping that people start dealing with it right now. That way, we are not faced with mass evictions come April 1st. Thank you.
As the Minister stated, we have less than two months to get our orders in place here to have more tenants get their orders in place and get caught up on their arrears or come into a payment plan. Has the department looked at an action plan to help these tenants who are in arrears to get into an action plan to get their payments back on schedule? Thank you.
In communicating with tenants of the public housing portfolio, they were asked to come into the LHO and work out a repayment plan. I am not sure if we are following up with that, but right now the opportunity is there for them to work with our LHOs, enter into repayment plans and honour them, and come April 1st there is a possibility that they would be able to stay in their units. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as stated in the moratorium, on April 1, 2012, the NWTHC will once again be carrying out its evictions. We have a number of tenants who have not got into a payment plan. Is the Minister of Housing committed to possibly having their LHOs go out and speak with these individuals? In some cases we may have some individuals who have some language barriers or some mobility issues. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we would do the best we can to try and work with all of these tenants, those with language barriers. We are more than willing to work with them so they understand the whole process. The same thing goes with mobility issues. If there are mobility issues, we are more than willing to work with them.
Again, we have a lot of tenants that don’t face these challenges. The onus is on them to come into the LHOs and try and work out repayment. Part of the duties of our LHOs is they try to communicate with the tenants as much as possible. This is one of those cases where the tenants would be wise to come into the LHOs. Thank you.
